Originally published by the Voice of America (www.voanews.com).
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December 6, 2007

Pakistani Police Prevent Ex-PM from Visiting Ousted Chief Justice
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http://enews.voanews.com/t?ctl=1A7CE3E:A6F02AD83191E16065B9EC5911DB33F23CF5CDEF8FC051DA& Hundreds of police
guarding residence of deposed justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry
stopped Nawaz Sharif, dozens of supporters as they tried to get past
barricades





Former Pakistani PM Nawaz Sharif, center, speaks to supporters at the
entrance to the residence of Pakistan's deposed chief justice Iftikhar
Mohammed Chaudhry, in Islamabad, 6 Dec 2007Pakistani riot police
Thursday prevented opposition leader and former Prime Minister Nawaz
Sharif from meeting the country's ousted chief justice, who is under
virtual house arrest.

Hundreds of police guarding the Islamabad residence of deposed justice
Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry stopped Mr. Sharif and dozens of his
supporters as they tried to get past barricades set up around
Chaudhry's home.

On Wednesday, the government forcibly retired at least 27 senior
judges, including Chaudhry - who is a fierce critic of President
Pervez Musharraf.

The judges had refused to take a new oath of allegiance after Mr.
Musharraf imposed emergency rule on November 3.

Mr. Sharif told VOA's Urdu Service on Wednesday that his party and the
party of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto are nearing agreement on
conditions the government must meet to avoid a threatened opposition
boycott of next month's parliamentary elections.

The opposition parties want creation of an independent election
commission to make sure the balloting is not rigged in President
Musharraf's favor. They also want the government to restore an
independent judiciary and the constitution before the elections.

Some information for this report was provided by AFP and AP.


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